Golden Hearts
by Dragon-fang18
Summary: Natsu X Jellal Not completly mine if u want to give credits to do this to the original story maker where it's based onto.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Set before the 100 year request. Lucy has given up onto Natsu. He abandoned her again when she needed him the most even if he had done the unspeakable. _I am already Broken down inside_ _Living with myself, nothing but lies_ _But, I am not tied down by ghost of my past. Not anymore_ _I once was on top of the world_ _But never knew I'd Let it get so bad_ _Living with myself Is all I have_ _But I will move forward all thanks to the word you called to me once_ "Natsu"

Day 3: Cold and despair.

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Natsu walked out into the cold predawn air closing the door behind him gently, not wanting to wake up Happy. The snow laying around him like white marshmallow fluff. If his heart had not already broken it would do so now as he abandoned his best friend without a word or a note goodbye. Just like Igneel had done to him. He knew it was for the best, he could no longer stay in Magnolia and Happy would insist on coming with him. He could not take him from Carla and Lily and all the people that he loved. Wendy would take care of Happy, of that he was sure. Eventually he hoped Happy would come to understand why he had to leave. He hoped it. It was for the best after all. After all he could't undo what he had done.

He quickly checked to make sure he had all of his belongings mostly food being that is with him before he took one last look at the place he had called home. The sign that read Natsu & Happy exuded a cheer he no longer felt. Still, he tried to feel something through the numbness that had settled into his soul. He felt nothing, but then again he hadn't really expected to. How could he? He had given all. He shivered as the chill in the air settled uncomfortably on his exposed skin. He would need to get used to this feeling, find mundane ways to fight it off.

Cold. The word meant both nothing and everything to him. It was somethIng that he had never really felt physically, yet it also represented the one person he truly respected as a friend. He had never spoken those words out loud, never let him know how he felt, and now that he was leaving he never would. It was just as well, he was no longer worthy of love.

He examined the magic sealing bracelet he was wearing on his right wrist. He had not locked it yet, there was still one last task that required his magic. Then he would lock it and be burdened with his magic no more. He began walking towards the edge of town trying to beat the sun so that no one could see him leave. He almost succeeded. Ahead of him there was one person who had remained sober through all the recent events, mostly because he wasn't old enough to drink. And he had been watching.

Romeo Conbolt stood at the edge of town. He had been standing in this same spot for several hours not quite sure when Natsu was going to try to sneak out of town but aware that it would be on this day. The funeral had been yesterday and with the guilt he felt the Fire Dragon Slayer and was bound to take off. He alway's had saw Natsu as the person he wanted to be in the future after all.

"Where's Happy?" Romeo asked, his face saddened at the realisation that he had been correct. As it had gotten later he had started to hope that maybe he had been wrong.

"He's at home sleeping." Natsu replied looking down at the ground. He was not so far gone that he wasn't disgusted by his actions.

"You're leaving him behind? Did you at least tell him you were leaving?" Romeo demanded.

The way Natsu refused to meet his eyes was enough of an answer.

"Damnit, Natsu! You don't have to leave at all. It was not your fault!" He could feel his body shaken in anger.

"You're wrong Romeo. I don't deserve to live here any longer and Happy deserves a better life than what he would get where I'm going. I know he won't understand that at first but time dulls all wounds. It certainly did that for me."

"Did it?" Romeo kept trying to catch his eyes but one week as a guest of the Magic Council had taught Natsu to evade many things, and Romeo was still only a boy.

"Here." He handed Romeo the envelope he had been planning on mailing from the next town over, "I was going to mail this to you anyway. You are to open this only in an emergency by everybody and take care of them."

He gave the boy that he'd come to love as a younger brother a hug and made his way out of town. He did not look back and as he walked he removed his Fairy Tail tattoo from his right shoulder. He was not sure if they could use it to track him and he very much did not want to be found. A click was heard as he locked his bracelet, removing himself from his magic and from his heat. He felt the cold seep in immediately and thought of the last thing he had to do now he had to leave everyone behind.

'Now I just have to confront him. I am sorry everyone for what I have done.'

xxx

Jellal opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as the pounding in his head overwhelmed all of his senses and made him want to vomit. He looked around slowly, trying to nurse the massive hangover he had woken up to and determined he was sitting on one of the barstools in the local bar. He must have passed out again. He wasn't really surprised, he had woken up here every day for the last two weeks. The last few weeks had been anything but normal and he had spent them drowning in a haze of alcohol that had would even impressed Cana and Baccus. He wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of booze and sweat and was disgusted to realize it was coming from him. He was rather impressed with the self restraint that Meredy must have shown by not dumping a barrel of soapy water over him. He got up and headed home for a shower, a change of clothes and a hell of a lot of aspirin.

It had been three weeks since the accident and no matter how much he drank Erza was still dead and everything had still gone to shit. It was time to man up and get back to some semblance of normalcy. He was still alive and he knew that Erza would not have wanted him to drown in sorrow. That was just the way she was. She was always someone to look at the bright side of things and guide him to the light.

Wendy had taken her death especially hard. She had not been able to stop it, none of them had. Not even Lucy. Natsu, of course, had taken it the worst. He blamed himself for her death, it had been his magic that killed her after all. No matter how much Lucy and Gray tried to tell him it was an accident the stubborn idiot would not accept it. They had spent most of that first week as guests of the Magic Council.

The Magic Council took mage's deaths very seriously, especially if they happened while performing duties for a guild. They immediately launched an investigation into Erza's death. Gray and Lucy had been placed in separate cells while Natsu had been placed in a magic sealing stone until Erza's death was finally determined accidental. He had been questioned daily, for hours at a time until Makarov had put a stop to it. Once they were released they tried to ask him about what happened during the interrogations but he refused to discuss had lost track of him after the funeral. They all returned to the guild for the wake, her friends from other guilds had also come to pay their respects. Milliana and her friends also had come bye to say goodbye to their beloved friend. Kagura had read one hell of a memories Luthen everyone had shared their favourite memories of Erza, sharing laughs about her amidst their tears as they said goodbye.

Jellal, Lucy, Natsu and Gray could not find it in their hearts to laugh. Her screams were still too fresh in their minds. Then the drinking had begun. Jellal thought that Natsu had been there when they discovered the temporary bliss of forgetting that the alcohol granted them. He thought he remembered a fight breaking out between Lucy and the Flame Brain but he couldn't be sure. He was already drunk by then.

Credits also by:

The Real You mdelpin, MiyuTanemura


	2. Chapter 2

h3 class="western" /h3  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Jellal couldn't remember the last time he had seen the hot head but figured it had been at least two weeks. Now that he had somewhat sobered up he went to go pay his rival a visit to check up on him. He did had some things to talk about after all. The guy that killed his loved but, then again could he really blame him. It was an accident after all and then again did't he do the same to Simon. Did he had any right to be even mad?/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"He left his spot and headed towards the small house at the edge of the woods where Natsu lived with Happy, his Exceed. He spent the entire walk trying to figure out what he was going to say to Natsu once he saw him, trying to ignore the feeling in his body that was trying to make itself known. By the time he reached Natsu's front door he had still not come up with anything, he'd just have to wing it./span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"He knocked on the door and waited but no one came. He tried knocking louder to the same result. He finally just tried the door and found it unlocked. He entered the house and did not have to look around very much to determine the house was abandoned. Natsu's hammock as well as all his clothes were gone./span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"He looked for the Master, hoping for an answer. Not much happened at Fairy Tail without his knowledge. As he looked, he attempted to ignore the cold dread that had settled in his stomach the moment he realised Natsu was gone. He found him back at the guildhall already drunk. He sighed in frustration, he would not be able to get anything out of her for a while./span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"He looked around the guild until he spotted Wendy Marvell, she was someone he cared for in a special way and she was a dragon slayer like Natsu and a team mate of his. They usually kept track of each other didn't they?/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Wendy, have you seen the Natsu? " Jellal asked as he kneeled down to her hight so they became face to face, hiding the emotions that were now warring within him. Could he really continue wasn't Erza partly his fault as well? He should have being there for her instead of hiding away. /span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Wendy looked at him sadly and shook her head. "No one has seen him for weeks. We searched for him but I don't think he wants to be found."/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Why didn't anyone tell me? I would have gone to look for him." Jellal said angrily. Did he really had the right to be mad? /span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We did try to tell you, several times. You weren't interested in anything that didn't come out of a barrel." Wendy replied bitterly, "At first we thought the two of you'd had a fight and that's why he left but then we figured it had something to do with Erza. He wasn't the same after-"/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; widows: 2; orphans: 2;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Ok, thanks Wendy Marvel!" he interrupted rudely before she could finish. Guilt flooded him as he realised that while he had been wallowing in drink, Natsu had been drowning into the darkness he knew so well. He rushed to his place to pack a bag. He tried to ignore the ice cold panic that seeped into his soul at the thought that he might already be too late. He hated him so much but he could't./span/span/span/span/p 


	3. Chapter 3

p style="margin-top: 0.42cm;"emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"I feel it every day, it's all the same/span/em/span/span/span/emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /span/span/span/span/spanemspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"It brings me down but I'm the one to blame/span/em/span/span/span/emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /span/span/span/span/spanemspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"I've tried everything to get away/span/em/span/span/span/emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"br /span/span/span/span/spanemspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"She was crying and I am the one to /span/em/span/span/span/emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Why do I do this?/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" align="RIGHT"span style="color: #2a2a2a;" /span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" align="RIGHT"emspan style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"Over and Over - Three Days Grace/span/em/span/span/span/em/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" align="RIGHT"br /br /p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" align="RIGHT"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Jellal stood at the entrance of his place trying to figure out where to go. He very much doubted that Natsu would have taken the train, it gave him motion sickness and if he was planning on getting away he would probably evade places that would be easily reached through the train system./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes, the more he thought about it the more he thought that Natsu would have walked. Where would he have gone to? What place would he have felt comfortable enough to escape to? The star mage knew large parts of Fiore like the back of his hand. He knew the woods and the mountains too. Would Natsu actually leave Fiore?/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That thought gave Jellal a pause, could Natsu really leave all of his friends behind? He thought back to the way the Fire Dragon Slayer had been acting since the accident and with a heavy heart came to the conclusion that he very well might./span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"'span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You idiot, don't you realise we need you?' Jellal thought, full of regret at how his inaction had allowed Natsu to plummet so far from his usual self. 'I need to talk to you.'/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"West, he would head west. There were plenty of mountains and woods and it was far away from the trains. For a moment he wondered whether he should go get Meredy. He would be traveling by himself in dangerous parts of the country, ambushes were not uncommon and he would not have Natsu with him to sniff out danger. He knew Natsu was as strong as a dragon but, thieves and bandit had their mean tricks. He had experienced it first hand even multiply times when he was hunting them down with his guild mates. /span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"No, he'd go by himself this time. If he didn't find Natsu who knew what could happen . He walked out of town worried, but refusing to believe that Natsu would even consider taking his own life. Natsu was stronger then him right? /span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Jellal returned to Magnolia in defeat two weeks later. He looked and smelled dreadful, gaunt and sporting a full beard from having spent two weeks exploring the mountains. Food sources were scarce and there weren't many places to bathe not like he wasn't used to it he had being trough worser after all. He went straight to the a bar to get some food and walked straight into an angry looking Meredy./span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"How dare you?" Meredy yelled upset at him./span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Jellal looked at her, tired and confused as to why she was angry with him./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""Sorranospan style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;", please get him some food." Meredy said at the white haired girl maid as she grabbed Jellal by the arm and shoved him into a seat at a nearby table. /span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Once they had sat down, Meredy anger gave way to tears and all Jellal could think was 'Shit! I made Meredy cry!./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"But of course he wouldn't, he'd left them all behind. Too strong to be broken by the Council but too weak to ask his friends for help./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"When I snapped out of it, you were gone and no one knew where." Meredy spoke through her tears. "I was all alone."/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'm sorry, Meredy." Jellal said, debating whether he should hug the sensor link mage."I was trying to bring him back."/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Did you find him?" Meredy asked even though she knew the answer. If Jellal had found Natsu he would have brought him back right?/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Jellal shook his head. "I'm going to go take a quick shower before Sorrano gets here with food."/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Fifteen minutes later he returned to the table feeling much better. He ate a meal and told Meredy of his search. He had been ambushed several times by bandits and although he had gotten away he had been injured before he got to the mountains. He had still searched every cavern, cave, hollow tree and anywhere else he thought Natsu might have hidden. He had stopped in town and asked every vendor and everyone he could think of if they had seen Natsu, no one had./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;""span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"All of us want to bring him back, Jellal. You didn't have to go out on your own I know how hard this must be for you." Meredy chastised him but then in a softer tone admitted. "I can't lose you too not after Ultear. Jella don't leave me."/span/span/span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Jellal nodded at her, overwhelmed by all of the emotions the Sensor link mage had shown since his arrival. He understood what she meant, he felt exactly the same way, He took out the map he had been using and laid it out on the table showing Meredy where he had gone./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Romeo watched them from the table where he was sitting with Wendy and guilt churned inside of him. Should he tell them what he knew? Both mages looked distraught but Natsu's words echoed in his mind. This was not an emergency. He couldn't betray his friend's trust no matter how much he wanted to. He cursed at his brother figure's stubbornness but held firm. He didn't have to sit and watch though, it was bad enough to see Wendy and Happy's sad expressions every day and carry the guilt of having that letter. He excused himself and went for a walk, ending up as always at Natsu's house, in front of the Natsu Happy sign./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"XXX/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"For the next few weeks several search parties went out in search of Natsu, determined to bring him back. They divvied up the map and set out to find their missing mage. Each party returned empty handed. People eventually gave up. Either Natsu really didn't want to be found or he had died. Either way they had to go back to work to be able to earn enough jewel to survive. They looked at Lucy and Jellal with pity when the two refused to give up./span/span/span/p  
p style="border: none; padding: 0cm; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"br /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; border: none; padding: 0cm; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-family: inherit;"span style="font-size: small;"Every once in a while one of the dragon slayers would go out with them but there was no trail to follow. The dragon slayers had all followed what they could the first two weeks but there had been no trace of Natsu's magic, and human scents did not linger long. They had help from other guilds. Sting and Rogue would help out searching the areas around them whenever they had free time. To Jellal's surprise Lyon and Jura had been doing the same. The reports were all the same, Natsu was nowhere to be found./span/span/span/p 


End file.
